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Aly Ogasian

Aly Ogasian attempts to re-orient herself in a contemporary world dominated by data and technology, where the romantic and adventurous spirit of discovery has been lost or forgotten. In these zones, science and technology give rise to the nebulous, the enigmatic, the mysterious -- the primary goal is to “make sense” rather than to objectively know.

Rather than grapple with the “polarity” between the arts and sciences, her work argues that both fields operate in a territory of wonder that exists at the border between sensation and thought. Within this context, wonder is connected to an instance of “new knowing”, a re-encountering of familiar terrain.

It stands to reason that technology is inherently part of this process of exploring, allowing us to extend our bodies, senses, and thoughts across greater and greater distances whether deep within or far away. And so she is often inspired by the technologies and systems (both contemporary and historic) that we create to navigate and understand both the world at hand and remote, seemingly unfathomable landscapes.

Her installations incorporate a variety of media including drawing, video, sculpture, writing and performance and a range of processes such as casting, scanning, 3D printing, and frottage. Within each installation, a two-dimensional image becomes three-dimensional, an object shifts to image, material to information, digital to analog. By illuminating the process or ‘history’ of each element in relation to the installation as a whole, each component – drawing, projection, sculpture - functions as a single point in a larger constellation.

Ogasian is a frequent collaborator, and has worked with Vivian Charlesworth, Shona Kitchen, and Claudia O'Steen, amongst others. Through a robust research practice she develops systems that fuse historic, contemporary, and imagined versions of marine navigation, nautical surveying, astronomy, geology, and cartography. Often she resurrects “dead” or analog technologies and uses them alongside contemporary tools in order to understand how technological progress has impacted human perception over time. Her projects frequently include fieldwork in remote or unusual locations such as restricted aerospace facilities and extreme landscapes.

Caleb Churchill

My work seeks to expand the way we see the world around us. Whether this is taking notice of subtle moments of beauty and humor in the seemingly mundane or questioning ideas we have taken for granted as fact. A background in photography has informed my way of looking at the world and of how we view art, both images and objects. In expanding my practice beyond just photography and into one that is multidisciplinary, I am able to explore, play with and manipulate my concepts and the overall experience of the work.

Overarching concept and medium, is a sense of both humor and earnest curiosity. I draw upon my interests in science, conspiracy, literature and art history to act as starting points for bodies of work to evolve. The works, both photographic and otherwise, take inspiration from poetry, always conscious of a sense of rhythm and over all cohesive fluidity. I ask that we step back at ask ourselves exactly how and why we see, both art and the everyday, and the rules that we have set up to do so.

Jenny Torino

Jenny Torino is a part of Torino:Margolis a performance art team that smashes through physical and psychological barriers separating one body from another using invasive electronics and biomedical tools. They explore the idea that the self is transient, elusive and modular by playing with the notion of control and free will. Their extraction of physiological processes concretizes these concepts and presents them as questions to the viewer -- not to illustrate the mechanism, but to explore the experience.

Kelly Knapp

Katryn McIntosh

Worked with two graduate students from RISD's Graphic Design program to build a "catalog" site for RISDs Digital Media department. It showcases the work of all past students and is meant to clarify the scope of the department. The two Graphic Design students provided the design and Katryn was the developer on the project.

Peter Snyder

Peter has spent the cool winter months collaborating with a local artist, China Blue, to both learn the very basics of 3D printing and to create an installation piece based on electron micrographs of beta-amyloid protein (which is highly related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease) invading the walls of capillaries. These are to be used for both teaching purposes, patient education and as an artistic vision of protein structure causing damage to very tiny blood vessels.

Meredith Younger

The Wurks is currently hosting the RISD/UT Austin MFA Exchange Show entitled A Sponge & A Sigh. The show is an exhibition of work by UT Austin M.F.A. candidates in Studio Art and and M.F.A. candidates in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The work will be up at the Wurks Gallery from March 18 – April 10. The gallery is located at 45 Acorn Street, Providence, RI.

Opening March 18th from 7-10pm

MFA candidates in Studio Art at UT Austin and MFA candidates in Sculpture at RISD are thrilled to announce A Sponge & A Sigh, a two-part exhibition between Austin, TX and Providence, RI. This marks the second year of an annual exchange between both graduate programs.

The Return of the Concert of the Musicalby Brien Lang & Roadhouse the Musical the Band

Critics and audiences agree, if you're not too stupid to have a good time, you'll love Road House: The Return of the Concert of the Musical

'The live music alone is reason to check out "Road House," and the playful performances that rise from the unlikely source material make for a wild, worthwhile night of frivolous fun.' Edge Providence

'If Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rocky Horror Picture Show had a baby who grew up to be a redneck, Road House: The Musical would be that child.' Broadway World RI

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Road House: The Return of the Concert of the Musical was originally created through the Wilbury Group's New Works program. It received a workshop production in June 2014 and a more fully realized second installment played through Wilbury in March of 2015. Since then it has gone on to play theaters and less discriminating music venues throughout Rhode Island, delighting (and/or terrifying) audiences who are fans of 80s action movies, American roots music and tongue-in-cheek parody.

It was the coldest night we've had yet (-8 degrees with a windchill of -30) but despite the weather, we had a huge turnout for our 7th Annual Wurks Dumpster Hot Tub Party. This year, the Wurks crew built a 14' insulated hot tub that was heated by a wood burning furnace & erected a sauna - the perfect spot after a dip in the tub. This years furnace even had a pizza shelf!

Wurk's Member, Hillel O'Leary's show is up at the Zoller Gallery at the Penn State School of Visual Arts. The show, titled NONAGON, is the 1st-Year Penn State School of Visual Arts MFA show. His piece, entitled Tapestry, is a site-specific installation. The piece, made of cast plaster embedded with canvas fiber & ink pigment speaks to memory embedded in landscape, after-image and connection. The show opened on February 8th and will be up for two weeks.